“UC San Diego computer scientists have built a software program that can perform key duplication without having the key. Instead, the computer scientists only need a photograph of the key.”

Next time you leave your keys on the counter, or even take them out of your pocket, they are in danger of being copied. The program uses digital images of keys to map out the exact shape of the key for later copying. While before people could do this with high-resolution photos, now it can be completely automated.

How many photos have you taken with your keys? Any on the Internet? It might be a good idea to blot those out. You could also switch to an entirely keyless entry system where all you’d need was an RFID chip (much like cars today). In the meantime? Keep them away from prying eyes.

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Comment Thread (1 Response)

This really brings up a lot of ethical questions. This especially will show some people’s true nature. It’s interesting to see how trusting someone is because it’s so easy to just take a picture of someone’s keys. The technology seems really cool, but at the end of the day it’s going to leave some people with all their stuff stolen.